Self-contained heating and cooling apparatus



March 24, 1959 L. w. ATCHISON 2,873,657

SELF-CONTAINED HEATING AND COOLING APPARATUS Filed Dec. 26, 1957 2Sheets-Sheet 1 FIG.

W INVENTOR. LEONARD W. ATCHISON HIS ATTORNEY March 24, 1959 L. w.ATCHISON SELF-CONTAINED HEATING AND COOLING APPARATUS 2 Sheets-Sheet 2Filed Dec.

INVENTOR. LEONARD w. ATCHISON Q N m.

Q r N. OhOOOOO HIS ATTORNEY United States Patent SELF-CONTAINED HEATINGAND COOLING APPARATUS Leonard W. Atchison, Louisville, Ky., assignor. toGeneral Electric Company, a corporation of New York Application December26 1957, Serial No. 705,281

3 Claims. (Cl. 62-325) The present invention relates to a self-containedair conditioning unit and more particularly to such a unit for supplyingeither heated or cooled air to an enclosure.

It is an object of the present invention to provide a self-contained airconditioning unit having an improved arrangement for the flow of airtherethrough for cooling or heating an enclosure.

It is another object of the present invention to provide aself-contained air conditioning unit having an improved air flowarrangement for both heating and cooling air from an enclosure withoutrequiring a reversible refrigcrating system therein.

Another object of this invention is to provide air controlling means ina self-contained air conditioning unit for controlling the flow of airthrough a plurality of opposed openings which lead from the front andrear faces of the unit respectively into the various compartments of theconditioner.

More specifically, it is an object of the present invention to provide aself-contained air conditioning unit having a plurality of aircontrolling valves, each of which is associated with a pair of opposedinlet and outlet openings of the unit for permitting selective controlof the air flowing into and discharging from the unit in order to directair either from the outside or from within the within separatecompartments of the unit.

Further objects and advantages of the invention will become apparent asthe following description proceeds, and the features of novelty whichcharacterize the invention will be pointed out with particularity in theclaims annexed to and forming a part of this specification.

In accordance with the present invention, there is provided an airconditioning unit including a casing to be mounted in the wall of anenclosure. Within the casing there is mounted a refrigerating systemhaving a condenser and an evaporator each positioned in separatecompartments formed within the casing. Each compartment is divided bymeans including a shroud and a fan into separate sections and each ofthese sections contains a pair of opposed openings, one leading to theenclosure and the other facing the outdoors. A closure means is providedin each section which is movable between each of the openings in eachsection to control the direction and amount of air flowing through eachof the openings to provide a multiplicity of different conditioningeffects.

For a better understanding of the invention, reference may be had to theaccompanying drawings in which:

Fig. '1 is a plan view in schematic form showing the air conditionerarrangement of the present invention;

Fig. 2 is an elevation view taken along line 22 of Fig. 1 showing thetrack and flexible air valve arrangement within a single section;

, Fig. 3 is a diagrammatical view of the air conditioner unit of Fig. 1illustrating the arrangement of the air valves forheating air circulatedthrough the unit from the enclosure; Fig.

4 is a diagrammatical view of the air conditioner'of I Fig. 1illustrating the air valve arrangement for exhausting air from theenclosure;

Fig. 5 is a diagrammatical view of the air conditioner illustrating theair valve arrangement for venting fresh air from the outside into theenclosure;

Fig. 6 is a diagrammatical view illustrating the air valves arrangementfor providing dehumidification of air within the enclosure;

Fig. 7 is a diagrammatical view illustrating the air valve arrangementfor cooling air from the enclosure as well as for introducing a meteredamount of fresh air from the outside and for exhausting a certain amountof air from the enclosure;

Fig. 8 is a diagrammatical view taken along line 8-8 of Fig. 7;

Fig. 9 is a diagrammatical view taken along line 9--9 of Fig. 7; and

Fig. 10 is a cross sectional view of the edge of one air valve.

Referring now to Fig. 1 there is shown an air conditioner unit includinga casing 2 having the front wall 3 thereof arranged substantially flushwith the inner surface of the wall 5 of the enclosure 4. The casing 2could easily be mounted with the rear wall 6 mounted flush against theouter surface of the enclosure wall with the air conditioning unitextending a short distance into the enclosure or, if the wall were ofproper thickness, the casing could be mounted with both the front andrear walls 3 and 6 respectively mounted flush with both surfaces of theenclosure wall. The casing is divided by a barrier 7 into two separatecompartments 8 and 9. Within the casing is a refrigeration systemincluding an evaporator 11 and a condenser 12 connected in refrigerantflow relationship with a compressor 13. The evaporator llis disposed inthe compartment 8, hereinafter designated the evaporator compartment,and the condenser 12 is disposed in the compartment 9 which ishereinafter designated the condenser compartment. Thus, duringoperation, the evaporator 11 always removes heat from air within theevaporator compartment 8 while the condenser discharges heat to the airwithin the condenser compartment 9. J

As may be seen in Fig. 1, the barrier 7 extends substantially transverseto the longitudinal dimension of the rectangular casing 2, or transverseto the wall, thereby dividing the casing into two compartments with eachof the compartments having sides facing respectively the enclosure andthe outdoors. The evaporator compartment 8 is substantially divided intoinlet and outlet sections 14 and 16 respectively by a fan shroud 17 andfan 18 which also provides air circulation through the evaporatorcompartment 8. Air is circulated by the fan 18 from the evaporatorcompartment inlet section 14, to the evaporator compartment outletsection 16. Similarly, the condenser compartment 9 is substantiallydivided by the shroud 19 and the condenser fan 21 into condensercompartment inlet and outlet sections 22 and 23. The condenser fan 21 isarranged to circulate air through the condenser compartment in thedirection from the condenser compartment inlet section 22 to the outletsection 23. In the illustrated embodiment of the invention, both of thefans 18 and 21 are rotated by a shaft 24 driven by the motor 26 mountedwithin the condenser compartment 9 or, more specifically, within theoutlet section 23 of the condenser compartment.

As is clearly evident from Fig. l, the casing 2 is divided into foursections by the barrier 7 and the two fan shrouds 17 and 19 incombination with their respective fans 18 and 21. It can be seen thatall of the heat producing members of the unit are located in thecondenser com partment 9. More specifically, the compressor 13,condenser 12, and fan motor 26 are all mounted so that the 'heatproduced by these members 'is transferred *toair 3 circulated within theCondenser compartment 9. This arrangement is advantageous because itpermits full utilization of the heating and cooling capacities of thecomponents within the separate compartments.

Referring to Fig. 1,'it can be seen that all of the inlet and outletsections are arranged side-by-side within the rectangular shaped casing2 with each section having a pair of openings therein; one facing theoutdoors, and a second opening facing the enclosure whereby air can beboth introduced and discharged from the two separate compartments in twodiflerent directions. More specifically, the evaporator compartmentinlet section 14 contains openings 27 and 28 and the outlet section 16is provided with openings 29 and 31. Similarly, condenser compartmentinlet section 22 is provided with openings 32 and 33 and the outletsection 23 is provided with openings 34 and 36. As will be hereinafterexplained, each pair of openings within the separate sections isprovided with a closure means for independently and selectivelycontrolling the amount of air flow and the direction of air flow intothe sections and, thereby, through the two separate compartments.

As may be seen in Figs. 1 and 2, each section is pro vided with aflexible air valve or damper which is fitted into track members 37extending completely around the upper portion of the casing. Each of thevalves is made of a thin sheet of flexible material such as a steel oraluminum or some material which will not lose its resiliency due to thechanges in temperature ordinarily encountered in heating and coolingapparatus of this type. The flexible valves are designated generally bythe reference numeral 38 and are specifically designated 38a, 38b, 33cand 38d with respect to the four separate sections in which they aremounted, as viewed from left to right in Fig. 1. As may be seen in Fig.2, the tracks 37 extend downwardly into the casing or opposite sidesofthe sections adacent the edges of the openings thereof. In order toretain the'fiexible air valves, the curved tracks or members 37 areformed of a substantially U shaped or channel shaped cross section.These members support the edges of the valves which are inserted intothe groove or opening in the U-shaped track. The flexible valves 38slide around the track members into position to restrict the air flowingthrough one or the other of the openings in each section. In order toprovide a good seal and prevent leakage of air through the juncturebetween the flexible valves and the track members, each of the valves 38has attached to its'opposite edges a resilient material 39, such as asponge rubber strip or a strip of heavy felt material. This may be moreclearly seen in Fig. 10. The material 39 provides an reflective sealbetween the track members and the air valves.

In the illustrated embodiment of the invention, each of the air valvesare movable independently one from the other. This movement is providedby a plurality of independently operated driving means which move eachof the flexible valves along the track members to any desired positionaccording to the particular conditioning effect desired within theenclosure. More specifically, there is associated with each of the airvalves a small reversible capacitor run motor 41 for driving, in eitherdirection through appropriate gearing, a drive sprocket 42 having aplurality of teeth thereon which engage with perforations 43 formed inthe edge portions of the individual air valves 38. The drive sprockets42 drive the air valves 38 somewhat in the same manner as motion picturefilm is-driven through a projector by the sprockets engaging theperforations in the outer edges of film. To obtain a great variety ofconditioning effects the driving arrangement is controllable to such anextent that the air valves .38may be stopped in their movement along thetrack members .37 at any position between a fully closed position on one.side of the section and 'fully closed position on the otherside of thesection. Thlspermits a partial flow of air into or out of the sectionsin either direction according to the particular desires of the operator.

As may be more fully seen in Fig. 2, in the area adjacent the motor 41and sprocket 42 the curved track member 37 has its underside, or one ofthe legs of the U-shaped section, broken away to permit the insertion ofthe drive sprocket 42 for engaging the edge of the flexible air valve.In a tested embodiment of the invention only one drive sprocket 42 wasused to drive each of the flexible air batfles and this workedsatisfactorily. However, in order to relieve the stress on the drivenedge portions of the flexible valve members 38 the shafts 44 are shownextended across the top of each section and these drive a secondsprocket (not shown, but identical to sprocket 42) on the opposite sidesof each of the sections thereby supplying a driving force to theopposite edges of the flexible valves 38. This arrangement insures thatthe valves run true within the channel shaped track members 37 and donot bind therein. This, in turn, reduces the amount of wear on theresilient material on the edges of the air valves 38.

Although, in the preferred embodiment of the invention, the air valves38 are motor driven or power operated, obviously they could be manuallymovable, by substituting a gear and crank arrangement (not shown) forthe drive motor with the operating crank extending outwardly through thefront face ofthe unit. However, the most desirable arrangement is tohave the air baffles powered upon actuation of a drive motor, such asthe motors illustrated in the present embodiment of the invention.

With the air valves 38a, 38b, 38c, and 38d arranged in the positionsshown in Fig. l, the air flow through the conditioner is such as tocoolthe air circulated from enclosure 4. That is, with the air valves 38cand 38d closing the openings 29 and 27 respectively, air from within theenclosure is drawn into the evaporator compartment -8 through theopening 28 where it is passed through the evaporator 11 and cooled. Theair then flows from the evaporator inlet compartment 14 to theevaporator discharge compartment 16 and is discharged into the roomthrough the opening 31 in the discharge compartment 16. In the condensercompartment 9, the air valves 38a and 38b are arranged to close theopenings 33 and 36 respectively to the sections 22 and 23 and, with thevalves in this position, air from the outside is drawn into thecondenser compartment inlet section 22 through the opening 32. Thisoutside air is then forced over the condenser 12, removing heat from thecondenser, and then passes through the scroll 19 intothe condenseroutlet compartment 23. It is then discharged to the outdoors through theopening 34.

The versatility .of air valve arrangement of the present invention canwell be realized by reference to the Figs. 3 through 9. With the airvalves arranged as shown in Fig. 3 the unit provides a souce of heat forair within the enclosure. During this arrangement, room air iscirculated through the condenser compartment 9 where it is'heated priorto its discharge back into the enclosure, while outside air is broughtinto the evaporator compartment where the air gives up its heat and isdischarged back into the outside atmosphere.

In the arrangement of Fig. 4, air is drawn from the enclousre into boththe condenser and the evaporator compartment inlet sections 23 and 16,respectively, and is discharged to the outdoors through both thecondenser and evaporator compartment outlet sections 22 and '14respectively. With the dampers or air bafllcs in this arrangement, bothof the fans are utilized to exhaust air through the unit to theoutdoors. In Fig. 5 there is shown an arrangement, which is the reverseof that shown in Fig. 4, and which provides ventilation from the outsideinto the enclosure. That is, outside air is drawn into bothvthecondenser and evaporator inlet compartments22 and 14, respectively,and discharged into the enclosure from the condenser and evaporatoroutlet sections 23 and 16, respectively.

During the heating cycle, illustrated in Fig. 3, if the outdoortemperature falls to a point where condensate forming on the evaporator11 becomes frozen the heating efficiency of the unit is greatly impairedby the restricted air flow through the evaporator. Upon moving the airvalves 38c and 38d to the position shown in Fig. 6, defrosting of theevaporator is obtained by passing warm enclosure air over theevaporator. Movement of the air valves to the position of Fig. 6 can beeffected automatically by energizing the motors to drive these valves tothe position of Fig. 6 according to signals received from a pressureresponsive device (not shown) disposed 'in a position to sense thedecreased air pressure in the section 14 due to the restricted flow ofair through the evaporator 11, or any other means for sensing frostconditions may be used to automatically energize the motors to move thevalves to the defrost position. An auxiliary heater (not shown) may alsobe energized at this time to supplyheat to the enclosure while theevaporator is defrosting. 'Also, when the unit is operating in themanner illustrated in Fig. 6, water is removed from the air as it flowsthrough the evaporator compartment and this air is cooled while the airflowing through the condenser compartment is heated. The overall effectis to reduce the amount of moisture in the air within the enclosure.-Thus, the air conditioning unit becomes a dehumidifier when operatedwith the valves arranged as in Fig. 6.

Various modifications of the arrangements shown in Figs. 1, 3, 4, 5 and6 are made by moving some of the air valves to a posititon in which theypartially open both openings leading to the particular section therebypermitting the flow of air into the section from both the outdoors andfrom within the enclosure. For example, referring to Fig. 7, the airvalves 38a and 38d have-been moved such that they are positioned topermit air flow into the evaporator and condenser inlet sectionssimultaneously from both the outdoors and the enclosure. With thisarrangment, air flowing into the inlet sections 14 from both theoutdoors and the enclosure is mixed and cooled in theevaporatorcompartment 8 and this mixed air is then discharged into theenclosure. By positioning the air valve 38a to partially open both ofthe inlets to the condenser compartment inlet section 22, air is drawninto the condenser compartment 9 from both the outdoors and theenclosure via the condenser compartment inlet section 22 to cool thecondenser and is then discharged to the outdoors through the outletsection 23. In this manner, the air from within the enclosure iscontinually replaced with fresh outdoor air and stale air is continuallyremoved from the enclosure and discharged to the outdoors. The positionof the air valves in the evaporator compartment inlet section 14 can bebest seen in Fig. 8 which shows the valve 38d arranged around its trackso that the opening 28 to the indoors is only slightly restricted andthe opening 27 to the outdoors is almost fully restricted. In Fig. 9,the air valve 38a is arranged in the condenser inlet section 22 topermit a fairly large volume of outdoor air into the section and also topermit a small amount of enclosure air to be drawn into the section.Obviously, the air valves can be moved to any position to permit almostcomplete quantitative control of the makeup and discharge air for theparticular conditioning effect desired.

It should be noted that, by having all of the openings leading into thevarious sections of the conditioner in the vertical faces of therectangular casing 2, it is possible to obtain all of these conditioningeffects with the conditioner while still permitting the unit to be flushmounted with either the inside or the outdoor walls of the enclosure.That is, with none of the openings in the ends, bottom, or top portionsof the conditioner it is possible to obtain all of these conditioningeffects while still permitting the unit to be flush mounted.

As a further aspect of the present invention, it should be noted thatthe evaporator and the condenser are arranged in circular fashion withintheir respective compartments. While the circular heat exchanger ispresently the preferred one for the coils, other configurations arepossible. However, this configuration is particularly desirable becausethe openings leading to the particular sections are arranged on oppositesides of the sections and the air flows into the sections from oppositedirections. That is, by this heat exchanger configuration it is possibleto more efiiciently take advantage of all of the space within each ofthe inletsections and to utilize the capacity of the heat exchangers toits fullest extent regardless of the direction of air flow. In theillustrated embodiment of the invention the cylindrically formed heatexchangers are arranged slightly outwardly from the projected peripheryof the inlet to the scrolls and air flows through the heat exchangersaround substantially the entire 360 of the heat exchanger. Y

By the present invention there has been provided a selfcontained airconditioning unit having an air flow pattern and controlling meanstherefor of great versatility to provide a variety of differentconditioning effects for the air within the enclosure. Moreover, thearrangement is such as to take advantage of the full capacity of theheat exchanger members and the heat producing membersof the unit whilestill permitting the unit to be flush mounted with respect toeithersurface of the enclosure wall.

While in accordance with the Patent Statutes there has been describedwhat at present is considered to be the preferred embodiment of thepresent invention, it will be obvious to those skilled in the art thatvarious changes and modifications may be made therein without departingfrom the invention and it is, therefore, the aim of the appended claimsto cover all such changes and modifications as fall within the truespirit and scope of the invention. I

What I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the UnitedStates is: I

1. An air conditioning unit for heating and coolingan enclosurecomprising a casing adapted to be positioned in a wall of said enclosurewith one side of said casing facing the outdoors and another side ofsaid casing facing said enclosure, a barrier dividing said casing intoan evaporator compartment and a condenser compartment,

a refrigerating system including a condenser in said condensercompartment and an evaporator in said evaporator compartment, a fanshroud in each of said compartments substantially dividing saidcompartment into inlet and outlet sections, a fan within each of saidshrouds for circulating air through each of said compartments in adirection from said inlet section to said outlet section, a motormounted in said barrier having a shaft extending into each of saidcompartments for driving said fans, each of said sections in eachcompartment containing a pair of openings therein, one opening in eachsection being in said outdoor facing side of said casing and the otheropening in each section being in said enclosure facing side of saidcasing, a flexible air damper associated with each pair of openings ineach of said sections, means for moving each of said flexible airdampers to a plurality of positions between a first position wherein itopens said one opening and fully closes said other opening to a finalposition wherein it opens said other opening and fully closes said oneopening, said moving means including curved track members arrangedadjacent the edges of said openings and extending around the upperportion of said casing, said curved track members having grooves thereininto which the edges of said flexible air dampers are inserted and drivemeans for moving said flexible air dampers around said curved trackmembers between said first and final positions whereby air from saidenclosure and from the outdoors may be selectively admitted into saidinlet sections of either of said compartments and whereby air from saidunit is selectively discharged to the outdoors or into the em closurefrom said outlet sections of either of said compartments.

2. An air conditioning unit for heating and cooling an enclosurecomprising a casing adapted to be positioned in a wall of said enclosurewith one side of said casing facing the outdoors and the opposite sideof said casing facing said enclosure, a barrier extending substantiallynormal to Said outdoor and enclosure facing sides of said casing anddividing said casing into an evaporator compartment and a condensercompartment, a refrigcrating system including a condenser in saidcondenser compartment and an evaporator insaid evaporator compartment, afan shroud in each of said compartments extending substantially normalto said outdoor and enclosure facing sides of said casing andsubstantially dividing each of said compartments into inlet and outletsec- .tions, each of said sections containing a pair of openings,

one opening in each section in said outdoor facing side of said casingand the other opening in each section in said enclosure facing side ofsaid casing, a motor mounted in said barrier having a shaft extendingsubstantially normal to said barrier into each of said outlet sectionsof said respective compartments, fans mounted on the ends of said shaftand arranged within said shrouds dividing said compartments into saidinlet and outlet sections for circulating air streams through each ofsaid compartments in a direction from said inlet sections to said outletsections, said heat exchangers in said respective compartment arrangedwithin said inlet sections of said compartments and formed incylindrical fashion with the axis of said cylindrical heat exchangersarranged substantially normal to the axis of said motor shaft and withthe inner periphery of said cylindrical heat exchangers arrangedoutwardly from the projected perimeter of the openings in said fanshrouds, and closure means associated with each pair of openings in eachsection, said closure means being independently operable to a pluralityof positions between a first position wherein said closure means openssaid one opening and fully closes said other opening to a final positionwherein said closure means fully closes said one opening and opens saidother opening whereby the direction and quantity of air entering each ofsaid inlet sections is selectively controlled and the direction andquantity of air discharged from each of said outlet sections isselectively controlled.

3. An air conditioning unit for heating and cooling ,an enclosurecomprising a casing adapted to be positioned in a wall of said enclosurewith one side of said casing facing the outdoors and the opposite sideof said casing facing said enclosure, a barrier extending substantiallynormal to said outdoor and enclosure facing sides of said casing anddividing said casing into an evaporator compartment and a condensercompartment, a refrigerating system including a condenser in saidcodenser compartment and an evaporator in said evaporatorcompartment, afan shroud in each of said compartments substantially dividing saidcompartment into inlet and outlet sections, each of said sectionscontaining a pair of openings, one opening of each section beingdisposed in said outdoor facing side of said casing and the otheropening of each section being disposed on the opposite side of saidsection in said enclosure facingside of said casing, a fan arrangedwithin each of said shrouds for circulating air through each of saidcompartments in a direction from said inlet section to said outletsection, :channel shaped guide track means extending downwardly adjacentthe vertical edges of said openings in each scotion and extending aroundthe upper portion of said casing between said pair of openings, flexibleair valves-in each of said sections, each of said flexible valves havingthe opposite edges thereof arranged to slide around said guide trackmembers between a first position wherein said air valve opens said oneopening and fully .closcs said other opening to a final position whereinsaid air valve opens said other opening and fully closes said oneopening, means for moving each of said air valves around said guidetrack means including a plurality of perforations along at least oneedge of said air valve, atdrive sprocket having teeth arranged to matewith said perforations on the edges of said air valve, and a reversiblemotor connected in driving relationship with said drive sprocket wherebysaid flexible air valve is selectively moved to an infinite number ofpositions for controlling the direction and quantity of air admitted toor discharged from the respective inlet or outlet section.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS2,391,151 Gibson Dec. 18, 1945

